Turn a spare USB keyboard into a soundboard & stream deck

A stream deck gives you 15 buttons for around €150. A used USB keyboard gives you 60+ keys for €10 — if your software can tell your keyboards apart. Here's how that works and how to set it up in a few minutes.

The problem with hotkey soundboards

Most soundboards bind sounds to hotkeys like Ctrl+F5 on your main keyboard. That breaks down fast: your game already uses those keys, you trigger sounds by accident mid-match, and you can only remember a handful of combos anyway.

The fix is a second, dedicated keyboard: every key on it triggers a sound or an action, while your main keyboard behaves completely normally. No modifier combos, no conflicts, and each key can hold its own sound — a full board of 60+ instantly reachable triggers.

How SoundLord tells your keyboards apart

Windows normally merges all keyboards into one input stream. SoundLord uses the Windows Raw Input API, which reports the physical device each keystroke comes from. That means:

• No drivers — nothing is installed at the system level, and no admin rights are needed.
• Device filtering — keys from the soundboard keyboard trigger sounds and are swallowed; your main keyboard is untouched.
• Works globally — triggers fire in-game, in Discord, in the browser, without alt-tabbing.

Setup in three steps

1. Plug in any USB keyboard. A €10 used office keyboard works exactly as well as a mechanical one — there is no special hardware requirement.
2. Select it in SoundLord. The app lists all connected keyboards; pick the one that should act as the soundboard.
3. Drag sounds onto keys. Drop audio files from Explorer straight onto keys, or assign from the built-in library. Per-key volume, pitch, loop and fade settings are one click away.

More than sounds: stream-deck actions per key

Keys don't have to play audio. Each key can also — or instead — run an action, which is where the spare keyboard starts replacing a stream deck:

• Launch apps — the key even shows the app's real icon.
• Open links or folders — one key for your dashboard, one for your clips folder.
• Control OBS — switch scenes, take screenshots, start/stop recording.
• Panic button — one key that instantly kills all playing sounds.
• Switch profiles — jump between full key layouts (gaming, streaming, podcast) with one press.

Getting the sounds into Discord & OBS

To make your sounds audible for everyone in voice chat, route them through a free virtual audio cable — that's a one-time, 5-minute setup. We wrote a separate step-by-step guide for it: How to play soundboard sounds through your mic (VB-CABLE setup).

Cost comparison

A Stream Deck MK.2 costs about €150 for 15 buttons. A used USB keyboard costs €5–15 for 60+ keys, and SoundLord is a one-time lifetime licence — no subscription. If you mainly want sound triggers plus app/OBS shortcuts, the keyboard route gives you four times the keys for a tenth of the price.